My roommate and I are thinking we need to make it up to Oaktown for the ALCS. I know it's not in the bag yet, but it's never too early to start planning.

Are there any ANer's down here in SD that want to make the trip up, share travel expenses, etc for the series. We don't have a ton of cash and since most of the bread will be spent on the best tickets we can get we have to keep all other costs as low as possible.

We are thinking leaving Thurs. evening or at the ass crack of dawn Friday morning. Since we will be missing work on Friday, we'd have to return on Sunday...but the A's should have swept by then anyways. :) Further, since my 1971 Bug isn't going to cut it, we are looking into renting a car. The size depends on how many join in on the joy ride of the year. Feel free to post suggestions if you're interested.

Last caveat. My roommate is a diehard Yankee fan. Isn't this going to be fun!

Ok, now that this thing is on ice we can talk about the playoffs without pissing off the woofing gods. The rotation is set up naturally to go Zito, Haren, Esteban (Always think of Kill Bill 2), and Harden. I don't see Macha changing that up in the first round. Personally I'd like to see Harden pitch game 1 and maybe throw a side session on Friday instead of starting on Sunday, but that ain't gonna happen. Is it as obvious to everyone else as it seems to me that we are not going to win shit without Harden? Yes the other boys are good, but they don't have the lights out stuff that it takes to close out a series like Harden does. Anyways, that's not news on this site. Ok, discuss away.

The only great April Fool's joke I was ever a part of took place in 2003. I was interning at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany. A fellow Dutch intern and I decided that the place needed something to spice it up.

It was the start of the Iraq war and of course I don't have to tell you what everybody's attitude towards that was seeing as it was an international body under the U.N. system. We would have daily lunches sitting around watching the war progress on the BBC or CNN and catch snippets of our favorite Minister of Information, Comical Ali Al-Sahaf. Among the constant influx of war rumors there were some rumors that Iraq had put the WMD's on a Yemen ship in order to hide them from the inspectors and later the invading infidels. So my partner and I decided it was time to bring the war to the Tribunal which was so pathatic in its grand building and 21 international judges sitting around waiting for a case to be brought in front of it's panel.
Here's what we did. We made a web page that resembled CNN's front page and made the headline read "WMD's Found in Indian Ocean." The big headline story had a big tanker for a picture and linked to the story which contained the kicker. The story went on to say that the US had seized a Yemeni tanker in the Indian Ocean, boarded the ship, discovered Iraqi WMD's and had US officials making preliminary statements about finding the "smoking gun". We then inserted ol'Comical Ali into the picture. Yada yada yada..."We will take this breach of our sovereignty on the high seas by the infidels to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea!"
The best part was we were able to get into the Press Officer's email account and send it to all of the legal officers and Registrar (who is basically the head of the whole Tribunal after the President), giving it authenticity. We carefully monitored the legal staff and we waited for someone to find the story. When they did it was fantastic. The whole legal department, Registar and President were gathered around a computer gleefully discussing the story and that the Tribunal might be getting a real case! These people were world class scholars and they were acting like children on Xmas morning. My partner in crime watched with wringing hands. We walked in and when they asked if we had seen the story we just couldn't keep it in and well, "April Fool's!"

After all the confusion, as many of them didn't know what April Fool's was, The Dutch Kid and I were showered with praise for our little gig.
Good times.

I'm in the Zonis Athletics Nation fantasy league. I hate having auto draft even if I prerank, it never works out well. Is there any crazy fantasy players out there that would draft for me? If this is the first time you would ever be drafting a team I'd say thanks, but no thanks. If you are wizard and want to get a little practice....? Maybe I could be on the phone for the first few rounds. :) Thanks.

I really don't have much new info at this time.

I don't know how much has been collected as of yet, I'll let Blez update you with that info.

I have spoken with BBBS. They are officially notified that they won't be getting tickets, but hopefully next year we'll be able to include them in the fun.

From what I understand, Sports4Kids will get a majority of the tickets with about 25% of the tickets going to 24Hr Oakland, a shelter for battered women and their children.

The response from all of you has been mind boggling. I feel so inadequate to actually handle this now, but thanks to Blez for the quick pickup on this one it looks like this truly will be an AN contribution.

Here is a quick list of those that have posted their committment to helping out. I put the number next to those that offered more than the asking amount of 30. Remember, that number was just a suggestion, so no amount is too little folks.

Capper3-300
Haren4prez
Nebraska-
Poppy- 50
David32
Tony
Devo
Gojohn10
Brian in 317
Blez- 100
Alleninsf
F171615
HigherPie
RobertMelvin
Jlaff
Duke of Left Field
TheFossePosse
Jeepers
Lansfords1- 150
Drudown
Mission1929
SportySpice
Kaweahkaweah- 50
Gotgreen
Pickinmachine
TahoeDon-60
Booya- 50
SD Erik
LongtimeFan
Mookyee- 100
High street
Colorado Fan
LowcountryJoe
Vaillant
Rich- 60
Oaktowngold
Kaiser99- 50
GoldenA
Davebenfremont
Jeff in Seattle
KJ
Oaklandpride
LurkerD
Lonestar-90
Almost Reggie
Alaska A
Sslinger
HollywoodOz
GarryG33
FormerHuntsvilleStar
Secret Asian man

That's exactly 50 people, if I counted correctly, which puts us well past the halfway point to our goal.  Remember, send payment through PalPal to

blez@athleticsnation.com
(Ps. You'll get my donation tomorrow, Blez. Payday! Yay!)

I think a great reward for the donors would be to raffle playoff rights for the tickets off as some have already suggested. I can't guarantee that it is possible and that's what we'll do, but I think its a good idea. Since WE ARE going to the World Series this year, that's a pretty nice raffle.

Some have suggested the Big Bro/Sis program. I can't really think of a better program to fit our gift. Two tickets, 1 adult, 1 kid that could really use and appreciate a night at the ballpark.
Personally, coming from a single mother household, I'd like to see a few (maybe 10-15) of the games go to the battered woman's shelter. I understand that distributing them from the shelter would be difficult and many tickets would be wasted if we gave them the whole lot, but sprinkled throughout the season I'm sure that will have a mother who needs to bring her boy or girl to an A's game. Camperdog's cousin is the HR director at the shelter, maybe he will talk to her about the practicality of that. Otherwise though I think the tickets should go to Big Bro/Sis.

This is freakin' rad, AN. Thanks.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a wonderful idea by capper3. I'm definitely on board with it. I can even start collecting donations through my PayPal account (send to blez - at - athleticsnation.com) I'll need to investigate the Oakland Boys and Girls Club, but this is definitely a worthwhile cause and at the same time, would get some young kids into the A's and help fill up the stadium. I'm in for $100. - Blez]

Almost Reggie got me thinking. I want to buy season tickets to the A's to show my support both on the field and at the bank account. Two problems, I can't afford to buy season tickets and I live in SoCal. So I thought it would be a good idea to pool some AN philanthropists cash together for a pair of season tickets and donate them to some Oakland charity. This way AN could directly "put our money where our mouth's are" and maybe recruit some young A's fans in the process. The particulars would be hashed out: what charity, how would ANers give, etc. I picture giving the tickets to a Boy's and Girl's Club or an shelter where low income mothers or fathers can bring their child to a game. I do not know Oakland, so I would need some help with this one and of course would put it out for a vote. I would hope that the criteria would be which charity/organization can be trusted to give the tickets to those who can't get them on their own regardless of the charity's political/religious affiliation. The question should be who can be trusted.

I think two plaza level season tickets will cost about $3,000. If 100 of you give $30 that should do it. I know that there are 100 among us who can afford that. As the one proposing this idea I will pledge $300. That leaves 90 more pledges of $30.

What do you think AN? Update [2006-1-26 0:46:48 by capper3]: Don't forget to recommend this diary if you think its a good idea so that others see it. Thanks

Please use this diary for general fantasy discussion. Usually I would not post such a diary, but it's an off day. Let's talk fantasy.

I have a problem. I have this keeper league. The format is stupid if you ask me, but without going into the details I have to keep 2 pitchers out of the following:

Harden (as if..)
Bonderman
Z. Duke
F. Hernandez (Sea. phenom)
Schilling

Out of these I have to keep 2 and one will be Harden. Who is the other?

I have to keep two sluggers as well. My choices...

Sheffield
Manny
M. Young
Abreu
Maggs Ordonez

I am definitely keeping Abreu. I can't decide on the other. Probably not Mags because he's injury prone. I'm leaning towards Manny but Young would be nice to have at SS next year. What do you think people?

I will be coming down from SAC for the Sunday night game on the 4th against the Yanks. A good buddy and avid Yanks fan is coming over from back east for the weekend. He will be at all 3 games but I can only make it to the Sunday game, as of this moment. Anyways, for Sunday we bought the $9 left field bleachers tickets. Can someone explain why the section closet to the field in the outfield is the cheapest and also what we have to look forward to. My buddy is a loud mouth so I'm praying the A's are kicking the Skanks asses so we can all give him a hard time.

I'm watching the new Surreal Life...I know I know. Anyway, when introducing Jose Canseco they had a caption that he won 2 WS, '89 and '90. Oops. Ok i know this is a waste of a diary, but we have 3 days until the next A's game and we need to fill it up with something.

They sure are ranking on ol' poor Jose on the show.